Larry Paints, Adam Shoots!

It's a side to the band most of us have never seen. Sure, we knew Bono was a painter - he had an exhibition last year - but we never knew Larry painted too.

We knew that the band would soon have to move out of their longtime recording studios at Hanover Quay - but until Adam took a whole series of images we never knew what inside that studio looked like.

And we knew that the new record had an 'arc' as Edge calls it, stretching from 'fear to faith', from Vertigo to Yahweh - but it is only with the lavish colour hardback book that comes with the 'Deluxe' edition of the album that we get to understand some of the thinking that informs the new songs.

In fact this amazing book is one of the untold secrets of the new album release, 'How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb'. Packed with Edge's enigmatic quotes, handwritten extracts from Bono's diary as well as Adam's photography and Larry's painting, it gives a completely new insight into both U2 and their new record.

The idea, says Bono, is that in the age of the download, the CD itself can still remain a little bit apart, a bit special - like the way a Beatles LP was.

'It's trying to make the CD a more important object, because when the Beatles put out Sergeant Pepper, it wasn't just a listening experience, it was a thing you held in your hands and opened - gatefold - and it had all these characters in it. That kind of inspired us to do something special with the packaging (of the new record) - so it's not for everybody but for the ones who get to it I hope they enjoy it.'

The colour book comes with the Deluxe Limited Edition of the new album - but that is just one of four formats for 'How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb'

As well as the standard CD release, there is also a 'Double Album CD/DVD' release which includes the documentary 'U2 and 3 Songs' featuring interview footage with the band, and performances of new songs from the studio in Dublin.

The aforementioned 'Deluxe Limited Edition' release - which includes the hardback book of photos and paintings - also includes the DVD, along with the CD.

And for completists who still have a turntable there is a fourth format - the LP Vinyl release.